You have not been a child or even a teenager for a long time, but quite an adult and serious person. Or not serious ...? However, this is not so important - most importantly, you still love cartoons, be delighted with the beautiful and high-quality rendering, laugh at the funny voice acting of the characters, and when viewing for some time, fall out of reality, immersed in a bright cartoon world. This has its own charm - to remain a little child all my life. Who knows, perhaps this hobby will grow into something more than just a love of cartoons. Surely you at least once thought about how these colorful stories are created and what kind of work was done before the finished video hit the screen of your monitor. Well, today the opportunity to become an artist-director himself has appeared not only among professionals in this matter, but also among ordinary people. And now we will tell you how to create cartoons on a computer without having a special education, but with a great desire. Forward!
About how it all began
Today, in order to make a cartoon, extensive computer technologies are used to create real masterpieces of animation. It used to be different. The story of the creation of cartoons began long before the invention of cinema. Primitive animation appeared at the beginning of the XIX century. In order to set the images in motion, we used ribbons with drawings and rotating disks, mirrors, etc. In 1914, the American animator and cartoonist Mackay thought about how to make a cartoon that would take animation to a whole new level. It was then that the work of the animator and the phoner was divided. Mackay created the first real animated hero with characteristic traits and qualities - it was a Gerty dinosaur. The assistant artist was engaged in drawing a background for each frame.
With the invention of cinema, animation took a strong place in it. To create cartoons, special movie cameras and multi-station were used. Until 1928, the cartoons were dumb and black and white. A breakthrough in this form of art was made by Walt Disney, who shot the first voiced cartoon - “Steamboat Willie”. Today, technology is so advanced that anyone can learn how to create cartoons on a computer.
Before proceeding directly to the technical part of the process, it is necessary to carry out considerable creative work. If we create cartoons ourselves from beginning to end, you must definitely make yourself a plan, which will include the steps described below.
Coming up with the idea of a cartoon
Finding and choosing an idea for a cartoon is a seemingly easy, but actually very important part. Already at this stage, it is advisable to decide what the duration of your cartoon will be - will it be a short animation sketch for showing on the Internet or a full-fledged cartoon lasting an hour or more. Or maybe it will be several episodes of the same story? Knowing the length of the cartoon, it will be easier to determine its plot.
In addition, decide what your target audience will be - toddlers, teens, or adults. Think about what idea you want to convey to the viewer. Build on your own experience and experiences, emotions. This will help you better understand the topic and engage your audience.
Work with the script
Once you have decided on the topic and the main idea, start writing the script. Carefully think over the image of the main character - his character, manner of communication and behavior. It should be charming and cause sympathy (or antipathy - depending on the plot and the goals pursued) in the viewer.
If dialogs are planned in the cartoon, then carefully write them down, marking the important points that should accompany each remark. A long cartoon is best divided into semantic parts in order to simplify the work.
Draw each frame on a new card so that they can be replaced or interchanged if necessary. Depict the main changes in the poses and movements of the characters. These basic elements are needed for storyboards.
Choosing a cartoon drawing method
The technical stage of working with the plot, namely, its drawing, can be implemented in various ways: someone prefers to do this manually, and someone uses a variety of computer programs. You can choose the option that seems most convenient and interesting to you. However, do not think about how to create a cartoon in Paint, for example. Today there are a huge number of more modern and functional programs. They allow you to make a cartoon for free, but at a much higher quality level.
If you are new to animation, the most suitable solution for you would be one of the Adobe tools. This is the well-known Photoshop, as well as Flash or After Light. They allow you to implement the various stages of the process of creating a cartoon - from drawing characters and background elements to putting them in motion (animation).
Creating a cartoon using Adobe tools
The Adobe workspace has frame windows in which your story will be created. It is also possible to place each individual object on a new layer and a panel that allows you to change the characteristics of layers in temporary space - Time Line (included in the Windows / Animation menu). In order to understand all the basic functions, you will not need so much time - with a serious approach for about a week or two.
Simple steps in animation
Suppose you drew your character and placed it at the beginning of the time axis (located horizontally). Now, next to the parameters of its position, set the Key Frame. Next along the axis, place another keyframe (for example, after one second), but change its coordinates (for example, slightly lift it up). Then take the third frame after another second and move it to the first layer. Thus, looping the reproduction, you will achieve that the hero sets in motion - starts bouncing and returns to his place again. The more different options for changing the hero’s position (along the time axis) you make, the more smooth and natural his movement will be. So, step by step, your cartoon will begin to come to life.
Thanks to the digital implementation, you can make a visual storyboard by placing each frame on the TimeLine axis. It is important to remember that with a normal video image, 25 frames are displayed per second , each of which is filled with movement. This allows you to create the effect of naturalness changes in poses, facial expressions and other moments in time.
About the storyboard manually and using a computer
In the classical method, that is, when each frame is drawn by hand, the storyboard occupies the entire wall in the office of the animator. Each frame is displayed on a separate sheet or card. This allows you to plan the entire sequence of scenes, events, as well as determine the options for their multi-scale display (when it is a close-up, and when the general, etc.). In this regard, the manual storyboard loses to the digital implementation, since creating cartoons on the computer is much more convenient (and the entire storyboard made is placed on the screen of your monitor).
After the main frames are placed on the time axis, you continue to work on them, but more subtle, paying attention to details. These are barely noticeable gestures, facial expressions and the slightest changes in posture, and folds on clothes, and other nuances that, nevertheless, cannot be neglected.
Go to the background
Do not forget about the background image. Whether it will be static or with animation elements, how colors and objects will change over time against the background of the main action - all this needs to be thought over, and then gradually implemented using multiple layers and TimeLine / Frame functions. Adobe has a variety of tools to help you work on your background image — color balance, sharpness, transparency, and more.
And only when all the characters and objects on separate layers will be placed on the timeline, you can proceed to join the background.
Sounds in the cartoon: background noise and scoring
The final stage in the creation of the cartoon is its voice acting and the imposition of appropriate noise. This is an equally important part of the work that needs to be given special attention. You can record the voices of the characters using the microphone - while making sure that the mouth movements of the characters coincide with the speech.
By the way, you can also implement and record the noise yourself. For example, to create a sound of boiling water, draw liquid into a glass, dip a tube there and blow into it. Or the sound of a bonfire - it will help to recreate an ordinary plastic bag, which you just need to mash in your hands. These ideas will tell you how to make the cartoon more interesting and creative.
Work on the cartoon ends with the imposition of a sound image on the animation series. There are many free, but good programs to do this. Now your creation is ready for presentation to the first viewers and critics.
Move from small to large and complex
Of course, there are other ways to create cartoons on your computer. In particular, various programs for 3D animation (for example, 3D Studio Max). However, for beginners it will be much more difficult to master them and it will take more time. It is best to start with the 2D format and programs such as Adobe Flash and After Light, and then switch to more complex tools that provide more opportunities for creative and technical implementation.
Making cartoons on Android
Today, tools have appeared that make it possible to create cartoons on the Android platform. Naturally, they turn out to be simpler both in reproduction technology and in drawing. But as a hobby, they can be quite interesting. To do this, many easy-to-learn programs have been developed, such as Animating Touch or Stick Fighter. With their help, you can create fun and uncomplicated stories.
To create a cartoon, you will need to draw the main - key - frames, and the application will turn them into a smooth animation. By the way, in the tool gallery you can select faces for your heroes who change facial expressions during playback. Also, with the help of built-in tools, voice acting is added. And the finished cartoon can be shared with Internet users by uploading it to YouTube. Such an easy and very exciting way to create cartoons will appeal not only to adults, but also to very young animators.